Daniel Evans

And maybe we'll come back to that because that's only just opened.

Directed by Daniel Evans with an all-male cast.

Very engaging production, which brings the gender complications of the play very much to the fore.

It's already complicated enough, but it gets more complicated with all-male casting, which is very interesting.

My name is Mickey Jo, and I am obsessed with all things theater.

I am a professional theater critic and content creator here on social media, and it was a wonderful intersection of enthusiasms when it was announced that Broadway musical theater star Jonathan Groff, as he is principally known, would be appearing, making his Shakespearean debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company in this new production of As You Like It, directed by Daniel Evans.

One of my more seen Shakespearean comedies, but one that promised to bring a new queer twist to the material, and that is very much what this production does.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

So make sure that you're subscribed here on YouTube, following me on podcast platforms, or signed up to my free weekly Substack newsletter via the link in the description.

For now, though, let me tell you whether I liked As You Like It.

[gentle music] So let's begin then by explaining somewhat the identity of this production and what it is able to achieve, because this has been directed by one of the RSC's co-artistic directors, Daniel Evans, whose work I have very much enjoyed previously.

Evans, not unlike Mr. Groff, straddles a straight play and musical theater background, and music does become a part of the identity of this production and the journey into the enchanting Forest of Arden, which on this occasion is populated entirely by Welsh-accented individuals, many of whom sing a cappella.

Can you remember your first experience with Sondheim? The first time you ever heard a Sondheim song or saw a Sondheim show?

My first Sondheim show that I saw was the production of Sunday in the Park with George with Jenna Russell and Daniel Evans in the West End.

And it was just absolutely mind-blowing.

I'd never seen anything like it.

Yeah.

So Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans.

And there were only five of us.

And Studio 54 doesn't have a pit really.